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June 16, 2005
Bob Beauprez -- What was he thinking???
Put this in the category of political opportunism gone bad. As many of you know, Bob Beauprez -- the front-runner for the GOP nomination for Governor next year -- insulted Latino Coloradans as well as our neighbor to the south with a racial stereotype yesterday in the Rocky.
His initial remark was bad enough, but he continues to show why he would challenge Bill Owens, as blogger Ralph likes to say, as the "Worst. Governor. Ever."
Here's how it started:
According to the Rocky Mountain News, Beauprez (ignoring the legal impacts of treaties, foreign relations and the like) sponsored legislation to punish Mexico for living up to its treaty obligations. In the article, Beauprez complained about the time required to complete a contested extradition by stating:
The ambassador [from Mexico] reportedly told Allard: "We are very serious about our international agreements, and we are very serious about applying justice." That does not satisfy Beauprez, who scoffed at the one- to three-year time frame."I've vacationed in Mexico before. I know exactly what 'Mexican time' is," Beauprez said. "If I was Mrs. Young or if I was Mitch Morrissey, I would think that was painfully slow."
Okay. That's bad enough. It is insulting to Mexican-Americans, and it is insulting to the legal process. Beauprez should have apologized immediately, as our own Chair, Pat Waak insisted:
State Democrats seized on the comment, calling it an insensitive, ethnic slur."Stereotypes and slurs don't represent Colorado values," said Rutt Bridges, a Democrat who is also considering the governor's race in 2006.
State Democratic Party chairwoman Pat Waak, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Latin America, said: "If he (Beauprez) spent a little less time in vacation resorts and started looking at the communities that are struggling for survival down there, he might have a different attitude about foreign assistance that's being provided by the (U.S.) government."
It didn't stop there.
Here's the "apology" from his spokesman:
"The congressman regrets his poor choice of words and offers a sincere apology to anyone who was offended," Stoick said.
An apology to those who were offended??? Why not say the statement was wrong in the first place, whether one was offended or not!??
As ColoradoPols said today, "That's like saying, "I don't know why that bothered you, but it shouldn't have."
Oh, but that's not all:
Apparently, Beauprez and his spokesman are on different pages. In the Post, instead of apologizing, Beauprez continued with his explanation of why his use of an ethnic stereotype was okay:
the Arvada Republican defended his "Mexican time" comment to The Denver Post, saying, "That term's used in Mexico all the time. It means 'Time to kick back, or take it easy.' This is not the time to kick back or take it easy."
This man wants to lead Colorado??? Sounds more like he wants to divide Colorado.
Ralph, sounds like we may have a new moniker for Beauprez: "Worst. Gubernatorial Candidate. Ever."
UPDATE: Okay, apparently Beauprez has said SO MANY stupid things that it is hard to keep up. Here's one more offensive quote from Beauprez on this story, from the Denver Post:
"This case is pretty egregious," Beauprez said. "As any parent knows, you put your kid on an allowance, they break the rules of the house, you hold back some of the allowance."
Can you say "patronizing?" The Mexican government is now equated with being "children" of the United States???
Bob Beauprez, the time for a real apology is over. It is time for you to drop out of the Governor's race and retire from Congress. Colorado can do better.
Posted by dslater at June 16, 2005 03:22 PM
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Comments
Get 'im.
Posted by: LarimerDem at June 18, 2005 09:14 AM